Saturday, October 24, 2009

Recently, I was very happy when i saw this supreme court directive.
i think that this has been long overdue. while i think that there should be places of worship and local gatherings for social occasions, the sentiments of people are being exploited by vested interests.
i have written earlier on some of the roadside temples that have come up as illegal structures.
i want to share some recent developments close to where i stay.this was a temple that was located among the dwellings that were cleared to make way for a – hotel / multiplex / hypermarket and… a skating rink with real ice!
the others got fair cash compensations and alternate sites, though located a little far away, but bigger than what they had here.
the road is also scheduled for widening and it is a matter of time that this temple may also have to be removed or relocated.
diagonally opposite this temple is another, a more established one – as it seems to have been built on private land. as if this was not enough, the third corner of the T-intersection had a couple of smaller temples that have started growing..
more on that in the next post.

Friday, October 2, 2009

from my earlier post, if you got a [wrong!] idea that the reason for me going to davanegere was the benne dose, sorry to disappoint you.

i had some other work in that area and was using davanagere as a base.

one other town i visited was Harihar, on the banks of the thungabadhra.
architecturally, i saw something very old - a few centuries old - as well as something very new, both places of worship.

the first was the harihareswara temple.
the following pictures should give you an idea of the exquisite architecture.
the entrance was pretty unimpressive and does not give you an indication of what is inside.

the sanctum sanatorium indicated that the structure has been maintained, but not too well.

the location is declared as a heritage site and comes under the archeology department. this has also impacted the funds for the upkeep of the temple.

the hall with pillars in front shows how the structure - of limestone? - has weathered well through the centuries and still stays shining, without any paint!